FOIA fails to crack spy secrets

A FOIA bid by the folks at the Electronic Privacy Information Center for documents held by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has fallen short.

In a 14-page decision, U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg upheld the ODNI's withholding of 21 documents. EPIC had requested "guidelines describing how the National Counterterrorism Center retrieves and safeguards information from other federal agencies."

Though ODNI turned over seven documents, officials said the 21 withheld documents pertained to “intelligence sources and methods,” including the names of specific datasets and data-provider agencies, as well as other “bits of information that would provide insights into the particular sources and methods relied upon by NCTC analysts to produce terrorist intelligence reports, generate law enforcement investigative leads."

Boasberg, in his ruling, stated that he was satisfied by the ODNI's explanations for why the documents should not be released.